The laundry room in my apartment building has a reservation system that generally works fine. There are three blocks that can be reserved, from 7 to 12, 12 to 4 and 4 to 9. I reserved the earliest time for today, I have to do two loads (I haven't had a chance to laundry for a while and I'm running out of clothes) and so I knew that if I start at 10 I have time to do them both (there's no rule that says that you have to start at the earliest time). Except someone thought that I wasn't going to show up at all and the washing machine was running when I got there. He showed up and his excuse was that he thought that I wasn't going to use the time I had reserved and it was the only time he had for laundry. Too bad it's also the only time I have for laundry, the only difference is that I was prepared for it and reserved the time. The reservation list shows my name and apartment number, so if he was that desperate he could have asked me.

I've had that happen. I stop the machine and remove the clothes in it. Reservations are not suggestions

I guess I'm used to my dad's way of doing things, which is to go out of his way to help people in trouble - even if he doesn't know them or it will inconvenience him. I once saw him spend roughly half-an-hour helping out an old lady who'd locked her keys in her car.

I guess I'm used to my dad's way of doing things, which is to go out of his way to help people in trouble - even if he doesn't know them or it will inconvenience him. I once saw him spend roughly half-an-hour helping out an old lady who'd locked her keys in her car.

Anyway, I accept my SS status for that occasion.

I was raised the same way. Actually, my father is still like that. Just last week he was headed out to the post office and saw some poor soul broken down on the main road near his house. He stopped, asked a few questions and poked around a little bit in the woman's car's engine. He then got her car running enough so it would make the 1/2 mile trip to the house and spent the next 3 hours fixing what turned out to be a completely blocked radiator hose while her kids played in the pool and mom fixed lunch for everybody. This is just stuff he does. Sometimes it's easy to forget that sort of thing is far beyond normal.

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Some people lift weights. I lift measures. It's a far more esoteric workout. - (Quoted from a personal friend)

I guess I'm used to my dad's way of doing things, which is to go out of his way to help people in trouble - even if he doesn't know them or it will inconvenience him. I once saw him spend roughly half-an-hour helping out an old lady who'd locked her keys in her car.

Anyway, I accept my SS status for that occasion.

I was raised the same way. Actually, my father is still like that. Just last week he was headed out to the post office and saw some poor soul broken down on the main road near his house. He stopped, asked a few questions and poked around a little bit in the woman's car's engine. He then got her car running enough so it would make the 1/2 mile trip to the house and spent the next 3 hours fixing what turned out to be a completely blocked radiator hose while her kids played in the pool and mom fixed lunch for everybody. This is just stuff he does. Sometimes it's easy to forget that sort of thing is far beyond normal.

That sounds like something my dad would do, and something like that is one of the reasons I married my husband. When we were dating, driving a beat up POS car, with no heat, in the middle of an Ohio winter, he pulled over on a busy street to help a car stuck in the snow. We drove the lady to Meijer's so she could buy a shovel, (they were out of shovels, but they let her borrow their's), then he dug her car out. She went back to Meijer's to return the shovel, and we went on our way. It's one of the moments that convinced me that I loved him.

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English doesn't borrow from other languages, it follows them down dark alleys and beats them up and searches their pockets for loose grammar.

I guess I'm used to my dad's way of doing things, which is to go out of his way to help people in trouble - even if he doesn't know them or it will inconvenience him. I once saw him spend roughly half-an-hour helping out an old lady who'd locked her keys in her car.

Anyway, I accept my SS status for that occasion.

I think it depends a lot on what the man's work was. For some people, 15 minutes either way is nothing. For others, it could be critical. For some people (like me) it depends on what your function is on that particular day.

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My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."

The laundry room in my apartment building has a reservation system that generally works fine. There are three blocks that can be reserved, from 7 to 12, 12 to 4 and 4 to 9. I reserved the earliest time for today, I have to do two loads (I haven't had a chance to laundry for a while and I'm running out of clothes) and so I knew that if I start at 10 I have time to do them both (there's no rule that says that you have to start at the earliest time). Except someone thought that I wasn't going to show up at all and the washing machine was running when I got there. He showed up and his excuse was that he thought that I wasn't going to use the time I had reserved and it was the only time he had for laundry. Too bad it's also the only time I have for laundry, the only difference is that I was prepared for it and reserved the time. The reservation list shows my name and apartment number, so if he was that desperate he could have asked me.

I've had that happen. I stop the machine and remove the clothes in it. Reservations are not suggestions

I was going to but ended up letting the machine finish (though it made me feel a bit spineless), it was only 20 minutes and I had (barely) enough time to finish my loads. Besides, I don't think that it's possible to stop the machine after a certain time has passed, I think that there's something like only 10 minutes when it's possible. It did really annoy me, it has happened to me before and I got the same excuse then, they thought that I wasn't using the machine as I wasn't there then. With five hours to my washing, do they really expect that I'm going to spend every minute of it doing the laundry.

... With five hours to my washing, do they really expect that I'm going to spend every minute of it doing the laundry.

Maybe they should break the 'schedule' down into smaller increments. I can kind of see why if there's a five hour stretch, someone might assume that if they find the washer empty, the person scheduled to use it plans to use it "later".

"Maybe they should break the 'schedule' down into smaller increments. I can kind of see why if there's a five hour stretch, someone might assume that if they find the washer empty, the person scheduled to use it plans to use it "later"."

For someone who needs to do a family's worth of laundry, five hours isn't all that long so breaking it up would just mean that big families would need to reserve multiple slots. Also, since the sign-up sheet lists the schedule by name and apartment, it's on the queue jumper to go ask if the machines are free, not just assume.

"Maybe they should break the 'schedule' down into smaller increments. I can kind of see why if there's a five hour stretch, someone might assume that if they find the washer empty, the person scheduled to use it plans to use it "later"."

For someone who needs to do a family's worth of laundry, five hours isn't all that long so breaking it up would just mean that big families would need to reserve multiple slots. Also, since the sign-up sheet lists the schedule by name and apartment, it's on the queue jumper to go ask if the machines are free, not just assume.

Virg

That actually sounds like a good thing though. As long as it's allowed, and there are several consecutive slots, why not? This way the laundry room can accommodate 5 people with 1 hour time slots or 1 person with a 5 hour slot, or mix them up. This would also allow for the 5 hour person to start at say 11:00 am instead of having to begin at 7:00. I agree that in this instance, however, the jumper should have asked and I would make a complaint about him to the super/manager. They can give him a warning and if he has a habit of this ban him from using the facilities if he can't follow the rules.

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"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." — Douglas Adams

"Maybe they should break the 'schedule' down into smaller increments. I can kind of see why if there's a five hour stretch, someone might assume that if they find the washer empty, the person scheduled to use it plans to use it "later"."

For someone who needs to do a family's worth of laundry, five hours isn't all that long so breaking it up would just mean that big families would need to reserve multiple slots. Also, since the sign-up sheet lists the schedule by name and apartment, it's on the queue jumper to go ask if the machines are free, not just assume.

Virg

That actually sounds like a good thing though. As long as it's allowed, and there are several consecutive slots, why not? This way the laundry room can accommodate 5 people with 1 hour time slots or 1 person with a 5 hour slot, or mix them up. This would also allow for the 5 hour person to start at say 11:00 am instead of having to begin at 7:00. I agree that in this instance, however, the jumper should have asked and I would make a complaint about him to the super/manager. They can give him a warning and if he has a habit of this ban him from using the facilities if he can't follow the rules.

Devil's advocate: Needing to do five hours worth of laundry and only being able to do in one hour increments at various times over three days would be extremely frustrating. I'm betting the choice slots would go first, and the users may not be able to get consecutive spots.

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English doesn't borrow from other languages, it follows them down dark alleys and beats them up and searches their pockets for loose grammar.

I guess I'm used to my dad's way of doing things, which is to go out of his way to help people in trouble - even if he doesn't know them or it will inconvenience him. I once saw him spend roughly half-an-hour helping out an old lady who'd locked her keys in her car.

Anyway, I accept my SS status for that occasion.

I think it depends a lot on what the man's work was. For some people, 15 minutes either way is nothing. For others, it could be critical. For some people (like me) it depends on what your function is on that particular day.

My dad was like this as well but he never had to clock in on the time clock so his time was flexible. But I also remember being the one sitting in a car late to where ever we were going because Dad felt he just had to stop and offer assistance. But this was before cell phones and easy access to roadside assistance programs. With todays communication access, I'm not sure the need is as great to have someone stop and offer assistance.

The system can be sometimes annoying, especially as sometimes the best time slots can get reserved pretty early but mostly it works fine (and I think that most people who live here have their own washing machines). I think that the time slot is so long (usually when I've encountered the system it's only for one hour) because they assume that people will use the drying room (a room with a machine that blows hot air) and that can take hours. You can only reserve two time slots a day but other than that there aren't any rules. I might report the man but I have no idea who he is, today was the first time I saw him.

"Maybe they should break the 'schedule' down into smaller increments. I can kind of see why if there's a five hour stretch, someone might assume that if they find the washer empty, the person scheduled to use it plans to use it "later"."

For someone who needs to do a family's worth of laundry, five hours isn't all that long so breaking it up would just mean that big families would need to reserve multiple slots. Also, since the sign-up sheet lists the schedule by name and apartment, it's on the queue jumper to go ask if the machines are free, not just assume.

Virg

That actually sounds like a good thing though. As long as it's allowed, and there are several consecutive slots, why not? This way the laundry room can accommodate 5 people with 1 hour time slots or 1 person with a 5 hour slot, or mix them up. This would also allow for the 5 hour person to start at say 11:00 am instead of having to begin at 7:00. I agree that in this instance, however, the jumper should have asked and I would make a complaint about him to the super/manager. They can give him a warning and if he has a habit of this ban him from using the facilities if he can't follow the rules.

Devil's advocate: Needing to do five hours worth of laundry and only being able to do in one hour increments at various times over three days would be extremely frustrating. I'm betting the choice slots would go first, and the users may not be able to get consecutive spots.

Advocate on the other side: needing to do 1 hour worth of laundry and having to wait a minimum of 5 hours, or worse, 10 or more if the first 2 slots were taken, would be just as frustrating, especially if the room were reserved but empty for 4 of the 5 hours. Since there are no perfect solutions, I guess I'm a greatest good for the greatest number kind of person.

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"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." — Douglas Adams

My mechanic family member told me to never offer to boost anyone because if I'm not comfortable doing it, if they screw up the terminals, it will fry my battery. Which is why I have auto club for myself too.

Advocate on the other side: needing to do 1 hour worth of laundry and having to wait a minimum of 5 hours, or worse, 10 or more if the first 2 slots were taken, would be just as frustrating, especially if the room were reserved but empty for 4 of the 5 hours. Since there are no perfect solutions, I guess I'm a greatest good for the greatest number kind of person.

I didn't say anything about 1 hour slots. I said maybe they could break it down into increments shorter than five hour slots.In the apartment building we lived in when we were first married, there were two washer/dryer sets. There was a schedule that began at 8:00am and ended at 8:00pm. You filled your name next to the time slot you wanted. So if you needed the equipment for five straight hours it was possible to do that. Hardly anyone in our building needed that much time and there were several in our building with young babies and or toddlers. (You could use both washers and both dryers at the same time, so doing loads by twos.)

A family could fill in their name for as many consecutive time slots as they'd need, but many people wouldn't need five straight hours. If you had five whole hours and your laundry actually took 1-1/2 hours, then for 3-1/2 hours the equipment would be just sitting idle unnecessarily and would prevent anyone else from using them at a convenient time.